Advanced Fuel Cycles for CANDU Reactors: The R&D Program and the Technologies Required to Support Them

Abstract

The fuel cycles of principal interest for use in CANDU reactors are: slightly enriched uranium (SEU - containing up to approximately 1.2 wt% U- 235), various cycles using the U-235 or Pu recovered from spent light-water reactor (LWR) fuel, and the high-burnup thorium fuel cycles. In all of these cycles the fuel bundles contain more fissile material than with natural uranium fuel in order to achieve the higher burnups required for optimum economics. Also, new technologies are required for fuel behaviour, fuel management and reactor physics. These new techniques are either available or under development, but will require demonstration for each of the different fuel cycles. The new CANFLEX bundle is the principal vehicle for the use of advanced fuel cycles in CANDU reactors, and the SEU fuel cycle is the focus for the establishment of fuel cycle technologies and demonstrations because it is economically attractive with current market conditions.